She blinked. Wanted to say something but held her tongue.
He slammed the bottom of his palm into the drawer. The echo in the room seemed to bounce off the walls forever as he yanked it out of its casing.
All the things in the box fell out onto the floor--medical supplies. Basic first aid things like healing patches and foam repair spray to seal up wounds. The kinds of things anyone would have in their medical bay.
"Well, that was disappointing," she said.
He glanced at her. "What is?"
"Seeing that you have the same things in your medical bay aseveryone else does."
"What do you mean?"
"You're the mighty Rhimodians. You're these powerful cyborgs. One wouldn't expect you to be using a foam repair spray for wounds or basic healing patches."
"Medical supplies are the same no matter what species someone is. "
"I know. I just, I thought you'd have your own tech."
"That's in the locked cabinet over there." He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder. He didn't look at her as he worked on repairing the drawer.
"So that's where all the magical scanners are," she said. She was kidding, mostly. Their own tech was understood to have like the nanites. They had to have stock of them somewhere so they could have more if they ran out. Right?
That made sense, didn't it? She was so tired, she wasn't even sure anymore if her brain was working.
"How bad is it?"
"It is not horrible," he replied.
It looked like she'd somehow broken one of the drawer's connectors inside the panel.
Of course, she did. She should have expected that she'd break things. After all, she was a menace. Just listen to her father. He could tell all about it.
"Well, do you need any help from me?"
"No."
She sighed. "I'm sorry."
This did make him pause. "What for?"
"For breaking the drawer, and now you have to fix it--"
He shoved the drawer back into the cabinet. "Fixed."
She blinked. "Well, um. I didn't realize you would fix it so fast."
He tapped it on the corner, and it slid out and back in like he had never had to fiddle with it.
"I know that you are independent, Princess, but please, if you need something, please ask me. I can help you."
She sighed. "I'm always helped. So much so that when I do try to do things on my own, I wind up screwing it up."
"You need a unit."
She blinked. "A unit?"
"A group that takes care of you. You work together, and as a unit together, you solve problems and fix issues. No one is more important than the other."
